1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to portable electronic devices and, more particularly, to a structure which enables touch-sensitive areas of a touchscreen to be activated.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many portable electronic devices include touchscreen displays, or displays which are capable of sensing the location of a touch or contact within a particular area. By way of example, when a person is using an electronic device that includes a touchscreen, he or she may touch a particular area of the touchscreen to cause the electronic device to perform a particular action.
Often, areas of a touchscreen such as buttons identified by the touchscreen may be accidentally activated. That is, a touch-sensitive area of a touchscreen may accidentally be touched. While a user is interacting with a touchscreen using a finger, he or she generally must cause his or her finger to hover above the touchscreen to avoid the accidental activation of a particular feature. Hovering a finger above a touchscreen effectively involves maintaining an air gap between the finger and the touchscreen. In addition, if a user is attempting to activate areas of the touchscreen in series, e.g., if a user is engaged in a series of button pushes, he or she generally must maintain an air gap between his or her finger and the touchscreen between button pushes to enable discrete button pushes to be substantially identified.
A user may also accidentally activate a button by pressing an area of a touchscreen that is between two defined touch areas. For instance, if a user intends to touch one touch area but instead causes another touch area to be touched, he or she may accidentally activate the wrong button.
Although a user may successfully avoid the accidental activation of a touchscreen by maintaining an air gap between his or her finger and the touchscreen, maintaining the air gap may be uncomfortable and inefficient. Hovering a finger over a touchscreen may cause a user's hand and finger to become fatigued. Additionally, if one hand is positioned such that a finger of that hand hovers over a touchscreen of a device, a user is less likely to be able to securely hold the device. The speed at which a user may press touch areas of a touch screen may be limited by the need to maintain an air gap between a finger and the touch areas.
Therefore, what is needed is a method and an apparatus which allows touch areas of a touchscreen to be comfortably and efficiently activated.